Considering going cableless, Netflix only. But I'm sure gonna miss...

[Atman]

Poll question: Considering going cableless, Netflix only. But I'm sure gonna miss...

Seriously now...first bird is out of the nest and none of the rest of us really cares much for the drivel passing for 300 channels of television, so we're considering dropping cable television altogether. We don't hate teevee, per se, but are just kind of fed up at paying nearly $100 a month to watch, essentially, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, whatever the newest HBO series is (currently hooked on Entourage and Lucky Louie), and the background noise of Cabal News Network in the morning (I find it gets my adrenaline rushing faster than I can make a pot of dark roast).

We've done it before. We don't have an HDTV set, and don't really plan to get one until we have to (we still get a great picture from our 12 year old Toshiba 32" CRT). We used to use our "big screen" set just for watching rented video tapes and fuzzy renditions of the local broadcast network affiliates. It worked then, and there wasn't even Netflix as an option.

Now I'm curious to find out just how many DUers are actually cable free. Or even television free.

[electron_blue]

1. cable-free. All I miss is the Daily Show. But even when I had cable

I rarely watched it in reality.

[Red Right and BLUE]

2. Option 4

I also gotta have my Keith O, and we love Cartoon Network.

[warrens]

3. I got rid of cable five years ago

When they jacked my bill to $70 from $45, I said seeya later. I miss HBO and Daily Show, and that's about it.

[Roon]

4. I don't watch TV but I still have basic cable

Just in case.......

[transeo]

5. You don't have to give up the good shows - Use iTunes

I gave up cable a long time ago and don't miss it. You can downlaod the Daily show and Colbert Report form iTunes. I do that and use Netflix. I love it!

[glitch]

17. Good tip! nt

[SmokingJacket]

6. No cable here, which means no TV in my town.

I know I'd watch the Daily Show every damn night if I had it, though... and then get sucked into whatever semi-interesting thing came on, too. It's a good feeling not to be chained to the box.

Anyway, I catch enough clips of Colbert and Stewart on the internet to feel up on things!

I have Netflix, but haven't been doing that much lately either. Somehow my job, kids, husband, piano playing, housework, friends, and reading take up all my time.

[Atman]

7. Do you surf DU on dial-up?

Yowza. I forget about that sometimes. I'd still have to have high-speed internet access. I couldn't possibly get rid of that.

[SmokingJacket]

16. Actually, I do have cable internet!

Would I get cable tv if I attached my television to it?

Uh, oh.

[mike_c]

8. TV free for more than a decade now...

...and very pleased by it. When I occasionally see cable TV programming I cringe, especially cable news programming-- I cannot believe that people pay for that stuff. I watch DVD's on my computer's 20 inch monitor and have a separate computer media server set up that I could use to view movies on a HDTV if I wanted to, but it's not worth the money as far as I'm concerned-- there are lots more ways to entertain myself (I use it as a music server almost exclusively, instead).

[Atman]

9. I have a 20" iMac -- it does HD

DVDs look amazing on the thing. It even has a remote. Come to think of it, I should just ditch the CRT now, before they start levying a surcharge on us just to take 'em away!

[FormerDittoHead]

10. I'd worry about "throttling". Use this throttling calculator...

I subscribed to an outfit in San Francisco (not Netflix) which specifically promised not to throttle. But I got an idea how this works....

The DVDs are mailed via bulk, there's no postmark - no way to see how long it takes to get to you or visa versa.

At times they said that it would take like 10 days to get their disks back, then there was the wait for the next one. I ended up paying extra for tracking to keep them honest and no way was it ever REALLY 10 days.

I ended up receiving no more than 3 per month per disk in my subscription.

The result is that you WON'T be able to get them in, watch them in 1 day (or copy, but that's illegal, of course) send them back for more, etc, and turn over each disk in your subscription like 8 times a month like you're probably thinking.

The honeymoom of quick delivery will be short, but the throttle is in the machine.

Assuming you weren't aware of this, someone in fact has created an online throttling calculator

http://www.manuelsweb.com/netflixthrottlecalculator.htm

The above website has all kinds of other information about Netflix, but without actually subscribing, this calculator shows you how much of an issue throttling is.

Google netflix and throttling:

http://www.google.com/search?q=netflix+throttling

[Atman]

12. Thanks for that info!

I didn't know any of that. I have a friend who uses it and seems to like it, but he's admittedly one of those "I still haven't gotten around to watching it" type people. I don't think he cares that he only gets a few a month, because that's about all he'd watch anyway. Not me. I was hoping Netflix would help cut back on the DVD rental budget, too, which is on top of the cable. It appears not to be so. Thanks.

[Bjornsdotter]

18. I've had Netflix for over 2 years

..and only twice have I had a problem with delivery...it took longer than expected.

I average about 9-12 movies a month, paying $18. It's worth it to me as our local Blockbuster would be far more expensive and in our small burg the selection is limited.

Cheers

[RumpusCat]

11. Just have rabbit ears myself

I don't want to pay for it--I do enjoy watching cable programming, I admit, and am overjoyed when I go to a friend's house to watch trash like the Style Network or E!, but I can't justify paying for it myself. It's like junk food--delicious on occassion but too much of it will harm you!

I do have Netflix and enjoy it a lot--I get to catch up with random movies and it keeps me from having to go to a movie theater. I hate those places--people are so damn rude these days!

[Cocoa]

13. how can you live without Lifetime?

do you really want to miss the true-life story of Fantasia from "American Idol," starring Fantasia as herself?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. In my neighborhood and building, reception without cable is lousy

At the moment, I basically watch PBS, the Monday night dramas on BBCAmerica, and the movies on Sundance Channel and TCM.

Unfortunately, both BBCA and Sundance are available only in the higher-level packages. I'm also very fond of the DVR, which has some great capabilities lacking in a standard VCR.

Every once in a while, though, I get the urge to dump the high-level stuff.

I haven't watched CNN since Hurricane Katrina.

[wryter2000]

15. Other

Gotta have Stewart, Colbert, CSPAN 2 and Iron Chef